Liverpool's Gakpo Deal Still On as Transfer Window Closes
The clock is hammering away at Liverpool’s transfer window. Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack. And Richard Hughes is running out of time.
Liverpool’s new sporting director has already seen a couple of key targets slip through his fingers. Yan Diomande, earmarked as a potential long-term successor to Mo Salah, is the most painful miss so far, choosing Real Madrid instead. For a club that wanted to reshape its attack, that one stung.
Pre-season under Andoni Iraola has brought encouraging performances, but also a harsh reality check. The new head coach has seen energy, pressing and ideas. He has also seen a bench that looks thin, a squad that still doesn’t quite fit his demands, and a market that Liverpool are watching more than they are shaping.
Newcastle United at St James’ Park is looming on the opening weekend, yet Liverpool remain strangely static. No decisive late push. No flurry of signings to plug the obvious holes. Just the steady drip of exit talk.
This is the risk. Last summer, Liverpool spent heavily but ended up with an unbalanced squad. Too much in some areas, not enough in others. They cannot afford a repeat. Not with a new coach, a new style and a league that punishes hesitation.
Instead of arrivals, the noise around Anfield is about who might be walking out.
- Ifeanyi Ndukwe, one of the standout performers in pre-season, is close to sealing a loan move to Levante.
- Luke Chambers, another academy product who impressed over the summer, is also being discussed for a loan.
Curtis Jones looks the next big decision. Inter Milan want him, but there remains a gap between the Italian club’s valuation and Liverpool’s. The midfielder has not signed an extension to a contract that runs out next summer, and his situation increasingly points towards a parting of ways. Game involvement has been limited, training has continued, but the writing feels close to the wall.
If Jones does go, Liverpool’s homegrown numbers will take another hit. Tyler Morton, Caoimhin Kelleher and Jarell Quansah all departed last summer. Losing Jones on top of that would leave the squad short of club-trained players, tightening registration options and shrinking Iraola’s pool even further.
And then comes the next problem, the one Fabrizio Romano has underlined.
Cody Gakpo.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano stated that despite claims the move was off, a deal for Gakpo to join Tottenham is “still very much on”. Liverpool, he says, are planning to replace the Dutch forward, and Spurs still see the transfer as a live possibility.
It’s a remarkable position for Liverpool to be in at this stage of the window. Gakpo did not enjoy his best campaign under Arne Slot last season, struggling to fully impose himself in the new setup, but he remains a versatile attacker in his prime years. Offloading him now, without clear reinforcements already through the door, would only deepen the sense of drift.
Liverpool should be hunting upgrades, not creating new holes. Yet as the days fall away, the narrative is one of exits, gaps and what-ifs.
The pressure on Hughes is obvious. He has to protect the homegrown quota. He has to reshape a squad for Iraola’s intense football. He has to decide on Gakpo’s future while the market thins out and rivals move decisively.
The clock hasn’t stopped. It’s getting louder. And unless Liverpool act fast, this window could define their season before a ball is even kicked.
